Eastern Germany's First Mosque Opens Amid Protests

[Bärin]

A new mosque has opened in Berlin -- the first in former East Germany. Just blocks away, some 300 people demonstrated against what they called the "Islamisation of Europe."

Located in Berlin's Pankow district, the 1.6 million-euro ($2.15-million) mosque has a 12-meter (39-foot) high minaret and can hold 500 worshippers.

Built for members of the Ahmadiyya Muslim community, the mosque was inaugurated on Thursday, Oct. 16, with a celebration attended by approximately 300 people, including Berlin mayor Klaus Wowereit.

According to Wowereit, the mosque symbolizes "religious and cultural tolerance" in Berlin. His comments may have been overly optimistic, though, given that hundreds of protesting residents and the far-right National Democratic Party (NPD) were gathered only blocks away from the site.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,...719831,00.html

It was only a matter of time until the cancer spread here in the East too. Of course our gay mayor likes the "religious and cultural tolerance" which is done at the expense of native Germans.

[BeornWulfWer]

The mayor is gay?! And he is allowing the rise of Islam?!

Will he be the first to have his head chopped off, I wonder?

[Bärin]

The mayor is gay?! And he is allowing the rise of Islam?!

Yes, he's gay.

Wowereit is one of the most famous German politicians who is openly gay. In coming out, prior to the 2001 mayoral elections, he coined the now famous German phrase "Ich bin schwul, und das ist auch gut so." ("I am gay, and that’s just fine" or "I am gay, and it's ok that way").

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klaus_Wowereit

And he likes to hang out with drag queens.

Will he be the first to have his head chopped off, I wonder?

Yes, it's retarded. The Muslims in the desert execute people for being gay. Ah well, he's the one for tolerance, if he lived in the desert with his lovely Muslims he'd see just how "tolerant" they're with gays.

Nothing of this is surprising anymore. Anything can happen in this city. It turned into a dumphole.

By the way, there was a poll on thelocal.de,

Do you feel threatened by the new mosque in Berlin?

Yes, it's just a matter of time before Europe is completely 'islamified.'
: 69%

No, live and let live, man. : 31%

Not too politically correct results so far.

[Athalwulf]

The "religious and cultural tolerance" they speak of doesn't apply to Muslims, however.

[Jute]

Is it meant "eastern Germany's first minaret"? Because I am sure I saw a mosque in Leipzig some years back when I was there. It was just a plain building though.

[Aeternitas]

Well these Ahmadiyya Muslims call themselves Muslims but some mainstream Muslim groups don't recognize them. They come from Pakistan and support a "reformed Islam". Pakistan declared them "un-Muslim" so they sought asylum and religious tolerance in Germany. Their slogan is "Love for all, hatred for no one". There are about 30,000 Ahmadiyya members in Germany going by statistics, and they aim to have around 100 mosques for themselves.

The mosque has a minaret, by the way.



They picked this area because the land was cheap.

[Nachtengel]

So a bunch of people in Pakistan want to deviate from the norm, "reform" Islam and make their own movement. The fundamentalists have a problem with it. The question a rational person would think of immediately is, what does Germany have to do with this? Why don't they solve their problems in Pakistan? Why should Germany solve the problems for them? Oh yes, my apologies, most people today aren't rational.